Fox News Doctor Supports Weed, Too

Hot on the heels of CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta, who recently announced his support for the use of medical cannabis (just like we predicted), is Dr. Manny Alvarez, Fox News’s medical correspondent. In a blog post titled “Medical marijuana for children should be approved by Governor Christie,” Alvarez expounds on weed’s medicinal benefits, and argues that kids should be privy to them too.

There is overwhelming evidence to suggest that medical marijuana has helped thousands of patients that suffer from chronic medical ailments, whether you’re talking about management of chronic pain, nausea or GI problems or enhancement of appetite.

Additionally, there seems to be data suggesting that in certain neurological diseases, some of the chemical properties of marijuana might also be beneficial.

Alvarez has acknowledged pot’s medical benefits before, at least in a sidelong way, but it is heartening to see yet another prominent public doctor endorse the plant–especially when he works at Fox News.

An ad from the Marijuana Policy Project claims marijuana is "less toxic" than alcohol.

Our job as fact-checkers in this case is not to decide whether marijuana is good or harmful. We're focused on whether the drug in its natural form is "less toxic" than alcohol.

In that regard, science and statistics present a strong case:

Deaths or even trips to the hospital are much more likely due to alcohol;
Scientists could not find any documented deaths from smoking marijuana;
A study found the safety ratio for marijuana (the number of doses to cause death) is much greater than compared to alcohol. Put another way, marijuana is 100 times less toxic than alcohol.